Omar says agents spent about five hours inside her home and took 17 items
Rep. Ilhan Omar said the pre-dawn search of her Washington home has made it no longer feasible for her to remain there with her children. In her first public interview since the operation, Omar told MSN NOW that she fears the raid exposed her address amid the death threats she already faces.
“With the death threats that I deal with, it’s not, it’s no longer going to be feasible to be in that house and have my kids,” she said.
Omar said agents began “pounding on the doors” at around 06:00 EDT (11:00 BST) on October 12, waking her and her husband while both were in bed. “We were screaming,” she said, as the couple ran downstairs to see what was happening. She called the incident “so bizarre” and said, “It obviously did freak all of us out.”
Omar estimated that between 15 and 25 agents encircled the home and said they “conducted themselves in a decent way.” Agents presented her with a warrant at the door after she asked for one.
Omar said she watched from the couch as agents spent roughly five hours going from room to room, leaving with a total of 17 items, including multiple cellphones, notebooks and her husband’s camera from the 1960s. Her personal computers and passport were also reported among the property seized.
The federal government has not said what crime Omar is accused of, but said the search was “part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation.” More than a dozen subpoenas have been issued to members of her family as part of the investigation. The BBC contacted the Justice Department for comment after DHS referred the matter to it.
The search followed multiple comments from officials that cast doubt on Omar’s U.S. citizenship. Omar received that citizenship in 2000 after arriving from Kenya and has represented Minnesota since 2018.
Omar again criticized the investigation, suggesting that it was meant to intimidate her. Immediately after the search, she posted a statement online calling it “an outrageous abuse of power” and “weaponisation of federal law enforcement to target political enemies.”
Former President Barack Obama has also called the federal probe “so appalling” in a lengthy statement. President Donald Trump denied involvement, saying the investigation has “nothing to do with me.”
Trump has repeatedly suggested that Omar “go back” to Somalia. At an Ohio rally in October, he addressed the search, saying, “I don’t know what they’re doing with it, but I can tell you this: she’s a disaster.”
Omar rejected Trump’s response, saying “he’s got everything to do with it.” She said the dispute went back to 2019, when Trump said she needed to be sent back and deported.
Omar’s interview provides a first-person account of the search’s timing, scale, agents’ conduct and effect on her household. The government still has not identified the crime at issue, and the dispute over whether Trump had any role remains unresolved between Omar’s allegation and his denial.
As MSI reported on October 18, Tom Homan had said Omar could be denaturalized and deported if evidence showed she lied during the naturalization process. Her first public interview now adds detail about the search and its effect on her household, but the government still has not identified the crime at issue.